From ancient lunar mud to personal missions, new images released from the Artemis II spacecraft capture new views of our celestial neighbor.
Yesterday (7 April), NASA released the first images of the moon taken by the Artemis II astronauts during their historic test flight.
The Artemis II mission began last week (April 1) at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, beginning a nearly 10-day mission for NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
Yesterday’s images were taken on April 6 when the team spent seven hours on the far side of the moon – the first spacecraft to land on the moon in more than 50 years – and provided a new look at its closest celestial neighbor.
From solar eclipses to ancient lava flows, here are some of the most interesting images captured by the Artemis II crew so far.
Near and far
An image that captures two thirds of the moon. At the bottom of the image, the Orientale basin can be seen. Northeast of Orientale, seen as a dark area, is the Grimaldi crater. Photo: NASA
One of the crew’s most impressive images captures two-thirds of the moon, showing “complex features of the immediate environment” according to NASA. A 600-mile-wide crater, the Orientale basin, lies near the transition between the near and far sides and can be seen at the bottom of the image.
The dark circular area in the northeast of Orientale is the Grimaldi crater, known for its “dark black lava floor and very damaged rim”.
A blur of space
The moon is completely eclipsed by the sun, as captured by the crew of Artemis II. Photo: NASA
One of the most unique images taken by the Artemis II crew captures the moon completely eclipsed by the sun. The sun’s corona forms a bright halo around the moon, while light from Earth creates a dim glow of the moon’s near side.
About 54 total minutes – when the moon completely blocked the bright face of the sun – were observed by the crew.
The stars are also visible near the spectacle, which is usually too faint to be seen when photographing the moon, but is easily seen with the moon in the dark.
“This unique environment provides a visible and valuable opportunity for astronauts to document and describe the corona during a human return to deep space,” according to NASA.
A different idea
Earth in section showing the break between day and night on Earth, as seen from the Artemis II spacecraft as it conducts a lunar flyby. Photo: NASA
Another photo taken during the lunar flyby shows the division of the earth between day and night.
The Earth can be seen in the fragmentary phase, the sunlight coming from the right side of the planet. On the day side, swirling clouds are seen over the Australia and Oceania region.
Meanwhile, lines of small indents are visible on the surface of the moon on the left side of the picture, chains of the second crater. These buildings are made of material ejected during a violent main impact.
Ancient lava
Close-up of the moon as Artemis II approaches for flyby. Aristarku crater is a bright white dot among the dark gray lava flows at the top of the image. Photo: NASA
In one close-up image of the moon’s surface, taken as NASA’s Orion spacecraft approached for a flyby, a fascinating ancient remnant can be seen.
According to NASA, the dark spots seen in the upper third of the lunar disk represent ancient mud.
Meanwhile, the bright white dot among the dark gray lava flows at the top of the image is the Aristarchus crater, which measures 2.7km deep – making it deeper than the Grand Canyon.
A personal gift
Image taken from the Orientale basin seen in the middle right of the image. The first crater named by the crew, called Integrity, is just above the center of the image. North of the Orientale in the upper right corner of the picture is the Glushko crater. To the northwest of that is a second place called the crater, which appears as a bright white area, which the workers named Carroll. Photo: NASA
During a lunar flyby mission, the Artemis II crew captured an image showing the rings of the Orientale basin, one of the Moon’s smallest and best-preserved craters.
According to NASA, these concentric rings give scientists a rare window into how large impacts shape the surfaces of planets, “helping to refine models of crater formation and the geological history of the moon”.
In the 10 o’clock area of the Orientale basin, two small craters are visible. The Artemis II astronauts submitted the names of the two craters for approval by the International Astronomical Union: the first was Integrity, named after the crewed spacecraft; and the second was Carroll, named after the late mission commander Reid Wiseman’s wife.
“A few years ago, we started this journey in our tight-knit astronaut family and we lost a loved one,” said engineer Hansen at the controls during the proposal. “And there’s a feature in a really neat spot on the moon, and it’s on the near/far boundary. In fact, we’re right next to that boundary, so at certain times of the Moon’s transit to Earth, we’ll be able to see this from Earth.
So we lost a loved one. Her name was Carroll, Reid’s partner, Katie and Ellie’s mother. And if you want to find this one, you look for Glushko, and it’s northwest of that, in the same place as Ohm, and it’s the bright spot on the moon. And we’d like to call it Carroll.
‘A human story’
Eight days into the Artemis II mission, and a number of incredible moments have been seen in humanity’s last major space mission, including the crew surpassing the record for the longest distance by human spaceflight at 248,655 kilometers from Earth.
But for many, the human side of the journey – such as the crew’s proposal to name the crater – has been delayed as a priority along with the technology of the mission.
This is true of award-winning Irish scientist Dr Niamh Shaw, who was present on the Kennedy Space Center lawn during the historic launch.
“Space has always been a kind of compass for my life,” he told SiliconRepublic.com. “It has a way of slowing everything down, it reminds me of what’s important, how small we are, and how amazing it is that we’re here at all. It keeps me focused on my questions. On curiosity. On wonder. And on responsibility.
“Because one of the things that space teaches us, obviously, is that there is no rescue mission coming to Earth. No one is coming to solve our problems.”
Shaw told us that what struck him most about the launch was “what happened afterwards”.
“The level of interest, the desire to communicate. People want to understand, to hear a part of you, to ask questions,” he explained. “I haven’t stopped; media calls, text messages, Zooms with my Town Scientist families. And I found myself trying to share it in a way that made it personal to them, sending pictures, explaining sessions, and answering questions.
“Because I truly believe that’s where the real impact lies,” he added. “Not just in terms of engineering success, as amazing as it is, but in the way it reaches people.
“The way it changes perspective, even just a little bit. The way it reminds us that we’re all part of something much bigger and that the story of space exploration is, ultimately, a human story.”
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